Some companies out there are charging students for the promise of scholarships or grants. Be wary of any site that promises “guaranteed” results or exclusive information that can’t be found anywhere else. Chances are, that information is available for free in several places on the internet and its very unlikely that scholarship or grant providers would want to keep that knowledge hidden from students.

Now, many free sites are supported by advertisements. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can get out of control if these ads are misleading, pop-ups, or contain harmful code. On the other hand, it might be helpful to see what schools, loans, or book stores are offering good deals. If its something you’re interested in, there’s no obligation to click and find out a little more about it.

I mentioned earlier in my FAFSA article that some companies are also charging to file this application: Again, there is no reason to pay anyone! Even if you hire someone to hand in the actual application, you will still need to do all the research and work of preparing it. They don’t know your financial information and they don’t know your family’s investment information unless you tell them – and you could just go straight to the Department of Education’s website and type it in there the first time.

Financial aid is supposed to be about finding money for school – don’t spend money chasing that promise, because its all available for free (of course, there’s still effort involved!)

8 Responses to “Scholarship and Grant Information Should be Free”

Your first stop for aid should be FAFSA! You need to show your income level. Its easy and secure to fill out the required forms online or if you want you can mail a form in. The people who work there are polite and will help you if you call them. On-line application is the fastest. If you goto FAFSA, the U.S. governments web site, and look around,do your research like every other hard working person out there, you would also find a link on that site that will aid you in finding more resources for student aid with no sales B.S. or money traps. Check your local or State governments for aid too. But beware, sometimes states are more picky,confusing with more paperwork,eat up a lot of your time and don’t know what one what hand is doing with the other which makes the process very slow to help you. The feds at FAFSA are the best. I’ve been there and am doing it now…still here in my state of Michigan(a headache). Also goto your college aid office and ask them if they can help or have a booklet that list scholarships offered to its students that you may apply for. Sometimes, depending upon the college, a good college program advisor ,for the program you are in, will email you scholarship or grant applications to fill out that will have no money cost to you. Never every go for things that want fees from you and want your personal information with those fees. You are trying to get help not make somebody money or feed the scam artist!

FAFSA is not the best out there by far. After a year in school and stringing my parents finances out to a thread the feds still refuse to pay anything. FAFSA can be good at times, but mostly it is a time-consuming joke

Aslamualikum. I am a Bangladeshi student .my name is kaniz fatema semu.I complete my S.S.C exam held in 2009 and i gave my H.S.C in 2011. The name of my father is mr. abdul mannan and my mother name is mrs. khadiza begum. my father earn very little. I want to be a ideal doctor.i want to got an MBBS Degree. my father and mother are also very interested to made me a doctor . but, because of my father little income ,i am very disappointed to fulfill their hope . i already know that , you are given scholarship to the poor and helpless students. for getting scholarship ,i want to get your kind help .

I AM A STUDENT IN ACCRA POLYTECHNIC IN GHANA AND OFFERING STATISTICS AS A PROGRAMME BUT CANNOT AFFORD TO BUY LAPTOP TO ENHANCE MY LEARNING IN A COURSE LIKE STATISTICAL COMPUTING, RESEARCH AND PROJECT WORK THEREFORE AM PLEADING WITH YOU TO COME TO MY AID. THAKS AND HOPING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON.